First let me say East Williamsburg doesn’t exist. Much like Bedford Stuyvesant Heights and East New York Gardens, East Williamsburg is a creation of overzealous realtors and real estate developers looking to make a buck off of the continuously hot housing market in Brooklyn so renaming neighborhoods has been all the rage. ‘East WillyB’ however is a very real and well done web series following a group of Brooklyn locals who strive to either fight or flow with the impending neighborhood changes while dealing with their own issues in comedic fashion. Continue reading →

There are few things in Hip Hop as gratifying as a good rap feud. Sides are picked, lines in the sand are drawn and if you’re lucky people debate line for line who won and why. Rap feuds are as much a part of Hip Hop as Break Dancing and Graffiti and every now and then two titans at the top of their game go for each others necks lyrically, in an effort to claim dominance in the eye of the general public. This is NOT one of those times. Continue reading →

Someone as recently as a week ago asked me my opinion on starting a magazine. My first thought is, “But it’s 2011?!”. Meaning why would anyone opt for a painstakingly produced brick and mortar mag when you can publish online from the comfort of your grandmothers basement. Then I recalled a piece I wrote on the subject a while back which delved into the topic somewhat. Feel free to edify yourself all over this page!

Maybe Young Nasir was ahead of his time..

Recently someone asked me “What do I know/think about starting a magazine” and I responded in kind with a well thought out reply spilling forth my modest experience in the publishing arena. I figured I should write a post about this so if you’d like a semi insiders look into publishing, here we go.

People in entertainment tend to brag about how much work they put in and how they ‘Never sleep, cause sleep is the cousin of death nah mean’. While I can’t verify the hustle of anyone else, There was a time when I split my days between part time college, part time job, indie mag writing, Tommy Boy and Epic. That time taught me a lot… and fast. Continue reading →

This was the magazines 3rd cover behind the Star and Bucwild and Eve covers respectively. While the Eve issue has a story all its own, this cover is when things started picking up momentum. Continue reading →

As a nation recovers from the post Thanksgiving stupor and licks its wounds from cage fighting for half priced flatscreen TV’s and Xbo 360′s, I’d like to examine something most of us take for granted until it is too late. In the land of the diabetic toddler and home of the quintuple bypass, our health is something many people are thankful for yet only in passing as true health is overlooked until someone is sick and sickness is supplemented with a bevy of over the counter and prescription drugs that typically have side effects worse than the disease you’re treating.

I’d like to shed light upon the film ‘Forks Over Knives’, which examines the relationship between diet and health. Having thought at length about modifying my diet to exclude animal based products replacing them with more plant based foods, this film served as the catalyst for striving to make such a change. To keep it short and sweet here is the trailer below. Also the film is streaming on Netflix so for all my fans of instant gratification they got you covered.

The above video has gotten a fair amount of attention in recent days and weeks as something we all, as American citizens, should be gravely worried about. If you don’t have the 1:46 to spare to watch it, basically it paints a dire scenario and the need to preemptively prepare for it. Two things… 1, despite the bevy of recent uploads this video originally dropped in 2008 and 2… it’s from THE ONION. I thought The Onion logo where a C in C-Span should be was a give away. I was wrong.

In a time before working with record companies and magazines… A time before the luster of the entertainment business was peeled back to reveal its sordid unsavory underbelly, there was a time when I was only a fan of the music. I was always a writer, but never thought of rapping myself. Back then I was a huge Nas fan. Nas I felt was the closest to a street poet with his rhyme scheme, content and word play. Yet it was when I heard Big Pun’s debut, ‘Capital Punishment’, I felt the need to pick up a pen and pad and start writing raps even if it was for my own amusement. Eventually I’d meet someone by the name of Ray Boogie and that encounter shed some light on the path some artists take. Continue reading →

So V-Day is finally upon us. To some the most dreaded holiday of the year…to others the most joyous. Imma let you know I don’t care either way. Remember the grass typically seems greener on the other side.

This post however is about none of that. This post is about songs that in one way or another take a different spin on the word love, whether through metaphor, simile or onomatopoeia (lolz). You got a long work day and I got 14 good songs here for one reason or another. Kick ya feet up, click and listen. Continue reading →

Yesterday many paid tribute to the memory of Big Pun who passed away 11 years ago. Even over a decade since his passing, fans keep his memory alive through his music and through their favorite quotables. This is the power music has over people whether it’s Hip Hop, Pop… R&B, Rock or anything you might listen to. The ability to snap you back to a moment just by hearing a few lines or notes of a song you vibe with.

A lot can be said about the current state of Hip Hop, but that isn’t what this post is about. Before I pursued an industry job, I was a fan and here are 10 Hip Hop songs that changed my perspective, influenced me somehow or were just plain fuckin dope. Continue reading →